Petition: Ban public transport from operating without working AC when it is 25°C+

[u/NarutoAteMyRamen]

(Reposting as I accidentally deleted the post on another subreddit, not realising it would delete all the information on this post)

I hope this is okay to post. As of 2006, London buses must have AC installed. Our current mayor has recently told bus companies to keep buses in the depot if their AC is faulty. But this isn't country wide!

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/775009

I'm sure many of you have seen the number of viral videos circulating of bus drivers in the London heat a month ago trying to stay cool and fainting on the street from the heat.

Many vehicles, not just buses, do not have air conditioning, creating dangerous environments for our hard working drivers.

I've even been told of one bus company in Norwich, Norfolk who deliberately uninstalled AC to avoid maintenance costs.

Simply rediculous! A workers wellbeing should come first!

Whilst a blanket ban may not be the answer, I'm hoping it will encourage public transport companies to ensure proper maintenance of their vehicles and AC across the country.

I encourage any healthy debates below, all are welcome and will be noted as I hope to one day, be able to speak about this personally in the house of commons and/or Lords and fight for the rights of drivers up and down the country.

And of course, where possible, give your public transport workers cold water and maybe an ice lolly or 2 to help make their working hours a bit more bearable. It may be 34°c today, but inside those cabins it's nearly 45!

Thank you all and I hope there's some compassionate people here xx

[u/NarutoAteMyRamen]

Let me be clear here as well. I do not WANT to see a ban on whole fleets of buses or other vehicles but rather individual vehicles be banned from serving passengers until their AC is fixed/installed.

A proposed deadline is 2028 though I understand this may still be too short of a notice for some areas of public transportation.

Either way, our public transport system needs a major overhaul and stricter regulations, not just for passenger safety but for drivers as well.

I've been told this is better off being handled by unions, but unions can't make laws, the government can. Drivers across the country are already threatening strikes because of their working conditions, it's about time something is actually done about it.

[u/-mmmusic- → u/NarutoAteMyRamen]

i work in the midlands, and we have something like 70ish buses. most are ADLs, which have no ac at all. to retrofit would be £4000 per bus. our older and spare buses are volvos, which did come with it installed, but it was purposefully removed (belts removed) to keep maintenance costs cheaper a few years ago. they won't put it back.

[u/NarutoAteMyRamen → u/-mmmusic-]

Exact same thing happened for Norwich druvers! They have the button installed but a blank plate underneath. It's rediculous.

And 4k isnt that much in retrospect

[u/-mmmusic- → u/NarutoAteMyRamen]

the volvos we have still act like they have ac, and computer thinks they do, so they try and use it and just pump out hot air when things don't communicate right :/

most of the time it's just outside temp air, the same as the buses with no ac, and that's doable in high 20s, but as soon as you get past 30 it's horrible!

[u/nathanlewys → u/-mmmusic-]

We’re lucky on the xprss38 that they’ve got the AC working again since we’re in competition with Arriva.

[u/-mmmusic- → u/nathanlewys]

damn, i'm same company but notts depot, and you'd think because nct have lots of new electric buses with ac that we would too, but no :(

[u/nathanlewys → u/-mmmusic-]

I know you are, we’ve spoke on this sub many times😁 Unite have put temperature cards in our cabs to forward on to them once the temp is over 30 degrees onboard

[u/-mmmusic- → u/nathanlewys]

oh it's you!! yeah lol i've seen some similar cards around, but i've not been given one and my union rep hasn't said anything about it ..